IIt appears that the football rivalry between Capital and Santa Fe High will be renewed at the district level next fall.
When the New Mexico Activities Association presents its classification and alignment plan for the two-year block beginning in the 2022-23 school year at its board meeting on Thursday morning, Capital is expected to be in Grade 6A for soccer.
Capital head coach Joaquin Garcia and Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez said they learned the Jaguars play in the state’s highest classification and will be district mates.
Santa Fe Public Schools sports director Marc Ducharme did not confirm the information and said he would wait for the NMAA’s announcement Thursday morning.
Martinez said Capital will be placed in a borough that includes metropolitan rivals Santa Fe High, Albuquerque High, Clovis and Los Lunas. Capital and Los Lunas, along with Farmington, are among the three programs advancing from 5A as their three-year enrollment numbers have surpassed 1,450 students for 6A.
Martinez said he learned that Albuquerque Manzano should go back to 5A, which will give 6A to 20 teams competing in the district. Given the size of the five teams in the new district, it appears that the NMAA will form four districts with five teams.
Ducharme said he had heard that Capital might switch to 6A and feared it would have to play at La Cueva, Eldorado and Sandia in Albuquerque schools like Santa Fe High this fall.
“At first I was afraid that they would have to play against the same teams,” said Ducharme. “I was like, ‘Oh, crap. You have to play La Cueva and Eldorado? ‘ You would be crushed. Then someone sent me the new district and I thought, ‘It’s not that bad.’ ”
Garcia said he liked the new district configuration because the Jaguars can compete better in it. However, if the program is to be successful, players like La Cueva, Rio Rancho, or Rio Rancho Cleveland must play.
“We have to compete no matter what,” said Garcia. “Collide with the new part of town and with us [to 6A], we have to prepare and get bigger, faster, stronger. It’s not a perfect world. I have a feeling we could still be in 5A, but when we were nudged we knew we had to be able to keep up. We’re not just going to lie down and let people beat us. “
The last time the two schools were in the same soccer district was from 2018-19 when Santa Fe High switched from an independent 6A program to 5A. In all other sports, the two schools have been district enemies since 2018.
Martinez and Garcia said they are thrilled that the city rivalry is affecting the districts, as it did in 2019 when they battled for the title in District 2 / 6-5A at Jaguar Field. Capital gained, 28-0.
“It brings the city together to support public schools,” said Garcia. “And if we could both reach the playoffs, that would be great. I don’t know if that was ever done. [It hasn’t]. “
Another benefit of the new district configuration is that teams get two additional games outside of the district. Santa Fe High played six District 2 / 5-6A games that fall, giving him only four opponents outside of the district. With Capital and St. Michael’s regulars on the schedule outside of the district, there were two spots left for the demons.
Martinez said both teams are actually playing a third game as their rivalry game is now part of the district plan. He said he is looking for 5A and 6A teams to play to improve the quality of opponents.
“We want to make sure that we don’t have a six-game plan that is just plain brutal,” said Martinez. “We’re going to manage the schedule by thinking about team health and other things, but we’re going to improve our schedule and see some really good football teams.
“It’ll be a different schedule.”
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